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Speaker 1: Previously on Whedian House, I robronically I was attracted to

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Speaker 1: and Karwak was writing about the homeless life that you

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Speaker 1: might not think of it that way, because I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, he was such a deep thinker, and he

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Speaker 1: wrote so poetically.

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Speaker 2: He was living in railroad cars, you know, he was

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Speaker 2: living on the mountains California, listening to the Pacific, and

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Speaker 2: I found the life that he was leading incredibly attractive.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Weedian House. I'm your host, Fel Henderson.

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Speaker 1: Consider for a moment. LA's solution is not criminalization, it's care.

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Speaker 1: Reimagine LA Coalition offers one possible solution for reimagining social

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Speaker 1: hardships into pathways for care and compassion. It's an organization

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Speaker 1: that creates alternative solutions for problems that beset our communities.

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Speaker 1: And we will be hearing more about their work and

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Speaker 1: their mission in this episode. We have an exciting episode ahead.

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Speaker 1: I'm taking you on a field reporting journey to the

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Speaker 1: Care dot Cage's conference that took place at the kenne

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Speaker 1: Hahn Administration Building back in the spring on the weekend

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Speaker 1: of Mother's Day. It was organized by Reimagining LA and

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Speaker 1: their mission was clear to call on the LA Board

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Speaker 1: of Supervisors to stop incarcerating and punishing people and use

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Speaker 1: their power to advocate and care for them. I'd like

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Speaker 1: to send a special thank you to Laura Kohalan, one

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Speaker 1: of the media contacts at LA Defensa, who invited me

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Speaker 1: to the press conference to cover it this week. We're

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Speaker 1: going to flow in and out of the dynamic speeches

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Speaker 1: at the conference with my private conversations with the speakers

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Speaker 1: about care not cages. But first on house news. Breaking news,

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Speaker 1: the US Supreme Court ruled that cities can punish unhouse

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Speaker 1: people for sleeping in public even if they have nowhere

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Speaker 1: to go. The case is called Grants Passed versus Johnson.

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Speaker 1: The lawsuit originated from an Oregon city that passed ordinances

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Speaker 1: borrowing people from sleeping outside in public using a blanket, pillow,

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Speaker 1: or even a cardboy sheet the lion. In Grants Pass Oregon,

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Speaker 1: unhoused people could be saddled with hundreds of dollars in

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Speaker 1: fines and even jail time for sleeping outside even if

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Speaker 1: the city lacked enough beds. This story is a important

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Speaker 1: story among the unhoused community, and this is why it

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Speaker 1: has been politicized by many people from the nimbis and

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Speaker 1: to political leaders and utilizing strategies to seem like that

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Speaker 1: they are doing things to eliminate issue of houselessness, and

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Speaker 1: in reality it's basically using these tools to erase the

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Speaker 1: unhoused crisis. The larger question is where are unhoused people

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Speaker 1: going to go? The second question is this is on

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Speaker 1: the heels of a major president. From Martin versus Boyse,

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Speaker 1: where the judge contended that to deny human functionality and

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Speaker 1: criminalize it is cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court

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Speaker 1: believed even though you can be unhoused and have biological

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Speaker 1: necessities like house people, you can still be penalized for it.

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Speaker 1: Paul Lewince Barton Bars wrote in a poem, a crust

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Speaker 1: of bread in a place to sleep in. A crust

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Speaker 1: of bread is not going to be sufficient, and a

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Speaker 1: place to sleep in is becoming increasingly much more difficult

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Speaker 1: in this country. Why this is important for places like California,

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Speaker 1: Oregon other places in the country, It's because it let's

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Speaker 1: loose the nimbis and the hostile people against unhoused people.

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Speaker 1: Using duplicious language like Karen Baths talking about she cares

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Speaker 1: about the un house and they're trying to give dignified

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Speaker 1: housing and it's unsusceptable to be on the street. But

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Speaker 1: in their second breath, she's creating policies to support nimbi

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Speaker 1: business owners by using hostile architecture, by creating fences and

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Speaker 1: making it untenable for unhoused people to return. If you

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Speaker 1: need further examples, look at vanish Atna, where that community was,

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Speaker 1: and how when she approached the community and in the

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Speaker 1: auspices of being supportive and caring, she immediately raised fences

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Speaker 1: to make sure that the unhouse and come back if

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Speaker 1: they did not like the insight safe starving carceral rules.

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Speaker 1: Because there are many people in our communities that believe

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Speaker 1: in treating on house people in a most hostile incarceral fashion,

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Speaker 1: this gives them the impetus to do so. In short,

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Speaker 1: we have a decision to make, and we have a

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Speaker 1: conversation that we must be had prior to the disastrous

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Speaker 1: debate that we've seen with Biden and Donald Trump. Prior

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Speaker 1: to the disasters of the police attacking protesters and framing

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Speaker 1: the story that it's a different conversation they are attacking

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Speaker 1: Jewish people. Prior to the fact that we are up

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Speaker 1: in arms and making raising funds for the Palestinian community.

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Speaker 1: This community is still in need of support, mutual aid support,

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Speaker 1: mutual aid strategizing and ways in order for them to

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Speaker 1: cope into this very dystopian reality. If you want to

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Speaker 1: more of us going to delve deeper into the conversation

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Speaker 1: as I interview people at the conference, but also to

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Speaker 1: take the time to educate unhoused people on the realities

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Speaker 1: of the situation in what is going to pretend for

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Speaker 1: their existence. This story takes place in Paris, France. The

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Speaker 1: police are targeting the unhoused community and preparation for the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: In late May twenty twenty four, above the banks of

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Speaker 1: the Sin one hundred unhoused boys and young men, many

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Speaker 1: from West Africa, were swept. Police have been informed to

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Speaker 1: make the city of Paris postcard ready. Currently, there are

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Speaker 1: three thousand, five hundred people estimated to be unhoused in Paris.

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Speaker 1: This is an underestimate, as housing advocates have claimed. Our

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Speaker 1: next story brings us back to California. Unhoused residents must

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Speaker 1: contend with heat, cold people, and now sewage turds on

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Speaker 1: California beaches. In addition to heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Bacteria,

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Speaker 1: including ecoli, has been detected in the water. So far,

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Speaker 1: seven hundred consecutive days of beach closures have been reported.

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Speaker 1: Over one hundred billion gallons of untreated sewage have flowed

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Speaker 1: through Mexico Siajuanna River and into the Pacific Ocean, contaminating

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Speaker 1: the air, water and soil, posing public health hazards and

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Speaker 1: environmental issues. The smell keeps house people inside, but where

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Speaker 1: do the unhoused go? No one knows. Our last story

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Speaker 1: discusses a growing, alarming phenomenon. The group with the fast

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Speaker 1: and rising number to become unhoused our senior citizens fifty

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Speaker 1: years and older. Forty eight percent of all in housed

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Speaker 1: single adults are fifty years and older, and forty one

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Speaker 1: percent of unhoused older adults became houseless for the first

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Speaker 1: time after age fifty. Ninety one percent of older unhoused

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Speaker 1: in the state lost their stable housing. In California, seventy

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Speaker 1: five percent were last housed in the same county where

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Speaker 1: they are currently unhoused. Poor health is a common reality

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Speaker 1: among older adults experiencing houselessness. More than two thirds reported

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Speaker 1: at least having one significant chronic health condition. One fourth

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Speaker 1: can't get health care or obtain medication they need. Sadly,

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Speaker 1: older black adults are overrepresented and this is unhoused news.

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Speaker 1: We will be back in a moment. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: Weedian House. Let's jump in and head to the Care

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Speaker 1: not Cage's conference organized by Reimagine LA this past spring.

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Speaker 1: The event was hosted by Megan Castile.

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Speaker 3: My name is Megan Castile. I am the Coalition to

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Speaker 3: Coordinate LA Coalition.

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Speaker 1: A coordinator with Reimagine LA. She kicked things off by

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Speaker 1: bringing up speaker Joey Williams' should.

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Speaker 3: To be providing us to land acknowledgement, as well as

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Speaker 3: a few remarks Joey, let's listen.

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Speaker 4: In good morning everybody, mana who as we said in

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Speaker 4: uh my original language, the Payou people. I want to

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Speaker 4: take a moment of silence to recognize those who are

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Speaker 4: facing genocide as my people did here on these lands,

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Speaker 4: on this earth, were standing on across the world, whether

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Speaker 4: it's from Turtle Island as we call North America now

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Speaker 4: to Palestine. We want to stand in solidarity as Native

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Speaker 4: people want to ground us a bit.

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Speaker 5: In the lands.

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Speaker 4: I am on Native land. You are on native land.

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Speaker 4: Can you say it with me, I'm on native land.

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Speaker 4: The first part about addressing the border supervisors around the

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Speaker 4: budget is recognizing where that wealth came from. And the

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Speaker 4: wealth and the blessings that we get to participate in

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Speaker 4: today come off the backs of chattel slavery and the

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Speaker 4: wealth that was generated from unfree labor of our black

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Speaker 4: brothers and sisters, and the theft and genocide of native

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Speaker 4: lands that we're currently standing on.

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Speaker 6: In the village of.

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Speaker 4: Yayanga, which is a Gabrielino village here, my great great grandfather,

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Speaker 4: Rafael Girardo, was displaced from the island of Pimu you

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Speaker 4: may know it as Catalina and sent to the La

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Speaker 4: Plaza Church was about four blocks that way on Ovetta Street,

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Speaker 4: where they were put to work, and many Gabrielinos were

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Speaker 4: auctions off as slaves right there in the gazebo on

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Speaker 4: Ovetta Street right there.

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Speaker 6: Many people don't know that history.

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Speaker 4: And then eventually we moved to the San Gabriel Mission,

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Speaker 4: to the Tajone Sebastian Reservation and eventually ran away to

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Speaker 4: the current river where he met my people and we

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Speaker 4: took him in. I say that to say this is

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Speaker 4: that my great great grandfather was one of the first

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Speaker 4: here in what is now called Los Angeles to be

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Speaker 4: incarcerated in the La Plaza Church and in the San

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Speaker 4: Gabriel Mission. The first peoples that were incarcerated here and

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Speaker 4: now called Los Angeles were Native people, Amberlino people. So

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Speaker 4: as we think about that context as we're moving forward,

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Speaker 4: I also want to recognize the Chumash and that the

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Speaker 4: Tavan brothers and sisters who also lands La County is

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Speaker 4: built on top of, and just recognize that we are

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Speaker 4: still here as people.

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Speaker 6: We have not gone anywhere.

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Speaker 4: We are still here, and we stand in solidarity with

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Speaker 4: everyone that's behind us because we know that together we

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Speaker 4: can build the power we need to usher in the future,

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Speaker 4: that we need to dismantle this system and to invest

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Speaker 4: into a new system that's going to ensure that we thrive.

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Speaker 4: So I'm standing here today and that what I would

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Speaker 4: like to offer us today.

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Speaker 6: Is a prayer. I'm here today because I'm tired of

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Speaker 6: us playing games.

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Speaker 4: We are funding, whether it's the LAPD, whether it's the

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Speaker 4: La County Sheriffs, whether it's the.

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Speaker 6: IOF, it's all the same.

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Speaker 4: We're putting billions of dollars back into the incartural state.

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Speaker 4: Who were the original slave catchers, who were the original

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Speaker 4: US Calvary folks who killed and murdered our people to

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Speaker 4: take our lands.

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Speaker 7: We are putting in it.

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Speaker 4: And it doesn't matter who they are, whether there are

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Speaker 4: people of color that's sitting on the dais or not.

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Speaker 4: They are continuing to fund the police state, and right now,

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Speaker 4: the police state is what put us in the current

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Speaker 4: condition we're in. So I wanted us to look on

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Speaker 4: the opposite side of what we have. For all those

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Speaker 4: billions of dollars that are going to LAPD La County sheriffs,

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Speaker 4: we could be investing into schools. We could be investing

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Speaker 4: into our trans brothers and sisters. We could be investing

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Speaker 4: into the healthcare of our people in La County.

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Speaker 6: We could be investing into our youth. As we continue

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Speaker 6: the youth.

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Speaker 4: Through c I'm the appointed representative from the La City

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Speaker 4: County Native American Commission.

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Speaker 6: We've been able over the.

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Speaker 4: Past couple of years to put about I guess around

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Speaker 4: four to six million dollars back into the Native communities,

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Speaker 4: funding a resource center, funding youth programs, and we can't

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Speaker 4: stop there.

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Speaker 8: We got to keep going.

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Speaker 4: We've been putting money for affordable housing. These are where

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Speaker 4: our dollars need to go, not into the police state.

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Speaker 4: So what I would like to leave with you is

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Speaker 4: with a simple prayer, and it greeds like this hunkadid

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Speaker 4: Tuvia who knew sumianam and essentially translates to the Creator

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Speaker 4: who sits above and all the good things Creator does

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Speaker 4: for us. My prayer is that Creator would do amazing

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Speaker 4: things for us today, not just for us, but through

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Speaker 4: us all these powerful people I have with me here

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Speaker 4: behind me, and you're gonna hear from today. So that's

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Speaker 4: my prayer today, and I thank you for the time.

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Speaker 3: Thank you, Joey, Thank you Joey. Next, we're gonna have

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Speaker 3: Bambi Southseato, who is the president and CEO of the

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Speaker 3: Trans Latina Coalition. Yes, she also serves as my counterpart

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Speaker 3: on the Care First Community Investment Advisory Committee.

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Speaker 9: Bambi, what's our beautiful people? I said, what's up, beautiful people?

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Speaker 9: I said, what's up beautiful people?

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Speaker 2: Buenosias Las person and Gunki I it is time. It

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Speaker 2: is time for us to demand what is right to

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Speaker 2: our people. My name is Bambi Salcedo, and I do

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Speaker 2: have the privilege to be the president and the CEO

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Speaker 2: of the Translatineo Coalition, which is now the biggest translated

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Speaker 2: organization in the United States.

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Speaker 7: We gathered here today.

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Speaker 2: To demand an intentional investment and the futures of our people.

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Speaker 2: Our people have been neglected, oppressed, marginalized.

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Speaker 7: For many, many years.

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Speaker 2: And some of you may remember that in twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: Measure J pass borders of this county mandated and mandates

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Speaker 2: the Border Supervisors and the county in general to invest

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Speaker 2: a minimum of ten percent of the general budget to

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Speaker 2: invest and care first instead of incarceration. And we have

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Speaker 2: been in this fight for at least for years well

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Speaker 2: since Measure J passed.

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Speaker 5: Right, and the.

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Speaker 2: Analysis said that about one billion dollars was going to

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Speaker 2: be invested in the care of people rather than engaging people.

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Speaker 10: But we know that the Carcole system is a business.

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Speaker 2: We know that they make money off people, and so

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Speaker 2: we're here to demand and to say no more.

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Speaker 7: So we say no more, We say no more, and

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Speaker 7: we say no more.

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Speaker 2: It is incredibly disgusting that the county rather invest in

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Speaker 2: lawsuits that they competent sheriffs departments continue to have. They

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Speaker 2: invest millions and millions and millions of dollars they get

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Speaker 2: paid for each body that they have in the county jail,

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Speaker 2: and we no longer are going to take the trans

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Speaker 2: People continue to get criminalized simply because of who we are,

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Speaker 2: and because of we are, we are caged and they

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Speaker 2: make money off of us. And so we're not going

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Speaker 2: to tolerate that. We're here to say, we're here to say,

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Speaker 2: and we're here to let demand the border supervisors to

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Speaker 2: allocate the resources that measure Jay says should go to

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Speaker 2: our peoples.

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Speaker 8: And so.

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Speaker 2: It's important for us to understand that we need to

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Speaker 2: learn right because the system as it is, with all

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Speaker 2: the oppression that has put on our peopils, right, they

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Speaker 2: don't want us to learn how budgets work. And what

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Speaker 2: we want to do is to have a community participatory

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Speaker 2: budget process right into which we say, as constituents, as

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Speaker 2: people who do pay taxes, right, we all pay taxes here.

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Speaker 10: If you buy a gram, you pay taxes, and.

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Speaker 2: That money goes to their path and that money should

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Speaker 2: go back to the people rather than the sheriffs, rather

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Speaker 2: than LAPD, rather than paying for lawsuits that the sharfs

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Speaker 2: are getting. And so we're here to say, invest in

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Speaker 2: the livelihood of our people, because we're saying no more.

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Speaker 2: We're saying no more when we're saying invest in our lives.

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Speaker 2: When I say yes, you say invest in.

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Speaker 11: Our lives, yes, invest in our live Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I.

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Speaker 2: Think it's important that I say something. In Espanol, tambien

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Speaker 2: so grassi as a persona qui grassias, grassios, graciasmas a

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Speaker 2: key re knees, husto, k noestros les lads localist singer

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Speaker 2: in bertiendo and and systema carcelamento, sabemos k systema the

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Speaker 2: carcelamento and staff abricado specific amento nero in maternos and

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Speaker 2: carcelagos in carceladas. In carcelades, yes, no mass, no mass,

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Speaker 2: no mass, loremoss response porlo the poor party, the lost

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Speaker 2: leo's politicos para qu in erta andras vida criminal lisandrones

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Speaker 2: almost existencia, la communida, transies cendo, primida, ciga, ciendo discriminate

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Speaker 2: in Lisada, cia ciendo and carcelada in criminalizada simplemented porns

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Speaker 2: almost as basta, no mass, no mass, no maskettamos ke

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Speaker 2: los persona tarn and elvene vene and.

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Speaker 10: And propuesta yamas j uh.

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Speaker 2: Yes a propuesta lost residential as bar heremos k aiga

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Speaker 2: and in Bersilon and Las Vidas, Lahne and Lugar the

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Speaker 2: Carcela minto the Lahne loves q s Manda al Goo

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Speaker 2: vin local, the sende les k porlomenos oom beyond the

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Speaker 2: dollar is case in Bertido, in Las Vidas and extrasens

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Speaker 2: embargo nomos okaymos l a a qui local kemos burden

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Speaker 2: and las villas and extrasens and the Carcelamento knows who's

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Speaker 2: the key, told us person Thomas Amos pagandol de manda's

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Speaker 2: k l de partamento vs a garden it then and

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Speaker 2: wasnamous k there loservices Thomos and we were the starting

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Speaker 2: carceladosch as gracias SMOs no ma no mas.

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Speaker 7: Gracil.

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Speaker 1: After the event, I had a chance to speak with

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Speaker 1: Bambi in a more intimate set and ask her more.

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Speaker 2: Hello, thank you so much for the opportunity. My name

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Speaker 2: is Bambi Salcedo b A m by s A l

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Speaker 2: c ed O. My parents are she her aa eva yeah,

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Speaker 2: and I am the president and the CEO of the

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Speaker 2: translating now coalition and what is the translanting of callis

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Speaker 2: the translating now Coalition is the biggest translated organization in

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Speaker 2: the United States. We are based here in Los Angeles.

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Speaker 2: We are an organization that functions.

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Speaker 10: With two arms.

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Speaker 2: We have built a multitude of programs specifically designed to

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Speaker 2: support transgender and con from Minuto sex people here in

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Speaker 2: Los Angeles. But we also believe in influencing change on

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Speaker 2: the systems that I gineralize us and so we do

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Speaker 2: policy work and all that. So we're an organization that

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Speaker 2: functions with two arms.

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Speaker 8: How long you guys have been in existence?

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Speaker 2: We started in two thousand and nine, So we're celebrating

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Speaker 2: this year of fifteen university. So not kin Sanierra and

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Speaker 2: so which kind of victories that you can be proud of?

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, we have had so many victories. I

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Speaker 2: think some of that I can mention. Obviously, we have

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Speaker 2: been part of the carshow work here in Los Angeles County.

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Speaker 2: So the passage of Measure JA in twenty twenty, which

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Speaker 2: allocated money to support our communities. Also at the same level,

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Speaker 2: we were able to pass Assembly Bill twenty to eighteen,

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Speaker 2: which is a transwallence and Equity fund and which there

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Speaker 2: were thirteen million dollars are located to translate organizations.

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Speaker 10: You know, we have done research projects.

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Speaker 2: So we just launched a report on the impacts of

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Speaker 2: COVID nineteen on transc community here in Los Angeles. We

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Speaker 2: have just released a report on the quality of life

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Speaker 2: of trans people in the City of Los Angeles.

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Speaker 10: We have served last year over ten thousand people. Yeah,

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Speaker 10: I mean, look, we do a lot. We just acquire

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Speaker 10: a piece of land, we're.

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Speaker 2: Building our new center in Hollywood, and so we're right

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Speaker 2: now in like the fundraising mode we need. We need

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Speaker 2: to steal raise fifteen million dollars, but we're getting there.

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Speaker 8: Wow, that is awesome. That is expressive.

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Speaker 1: What are the things in the future that you want

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Speaker 1: to tackle or basically conquer that on that plane.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So right now, our focus is to make sure

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Speaker 2: that the Border Supervisors obviously, you know, allok, the money

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Speaker 2: that is supposed to go through Measure J for care first,

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Speaker 2: but we also have another initiative that is called trans

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Speaker 2: Wellness and Care Coordination Initiative, and which we're asking the

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Speaker 2: Border Supervisors to invest seven million dollars and three million

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Speaker 2: dollars from the city for a total ten million dollars

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Speaker 2: to support translate organizations here in Los Angeles that will

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Speaker 2: provide services to members of the trans community in Los Angeles.

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Speaker 2: So there's so many different things that we're working on.

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Speaker 1: Also, because my podcast deals with the un house community

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Speaker 1: because I was in the house as well, we work

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Speaker 1: with the trends or the part of the community that

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Speaker 1: are in house because they say they face a lot.

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Speaker 8: I'm not saying that the challenges.

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Speaker 1: Are not great and house LEGBTT, but for the young

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Speaker 1: house as well, it can had a new dimension okaying

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Speaker 1: and suffering things going on.

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Speaker 8: So what's going on now?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So one of the programs that we have is

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Speaker 2: we have housing. In fact, we have a transitional housing

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Speaker 2: program in ist LA. So we rent a house and

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Speaker 2: to where we house people. I think right now we

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Speaker 2: have about thirteen people house there. But we also support

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Speaker 2: members of our community. I think it's just some portant

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Speaker 2: to recognize that in the last homeless count that the

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Speaker 2: Lake County or LASA put out, they documented over two

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Speaker 2: thousand trans people being transitioning fronting people being a house

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Speaker 2: in Los Angeles, and so it is a big issue

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Speaker 2: for our community and we as an organization are making

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Speaker 2: sure that we address those needs as well. I would

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Speaker 2: just like to say, just for the audience and the

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Speaker 2: beautiful people who are listening right that it's important for

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Speaker 2: us to also understand and recognize that trans people have

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Speaker 2: existed for many years and we have.

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Speaker 10: Been part of our society. It's just that we have

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Speaker 10: been neglected.

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Speaker 2: But we are, you know, empowering ourselves to ensure that

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Speaker 2: we the man the change that needs to happen in

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Speaker 2: our society. We want to make sure that trans people

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Speaker 2: are integrated in the topestry of our society so that

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Speaker 2: we can you know, get equity through all of these

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Speaker 2: processes and so that we can obviously thrive rather than survive.

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Speaker 2: People can go to our website Translating a Coalation dot org.

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Speaker 2: But also, you know, go to social media channels. Subscribe

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Speaker 2: to our YouTube channel. We have a lot of content

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Speaker 2: there type Translating a Coalition and yeah, so Translating a

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Speaker 2: Coalation everywhere all social media Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or x yeah,

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Speaker 2: and support us if you can.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you so much to Bambi for her time.

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Speaker 1: You can learn more about the Trans Latina Coalition at

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Speaker 1: www trans Latina Coalition dot org and when we come back.

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Speaker 1: We'll hear them from more speakers at Care Not Cages

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Speaker 1: and my conversations with us. Welcome back to Wuigian House.

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Speaker 1: I'm THEO Henderson and today I'm taking you to the

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Speaker 1: Care Not Cageous conference in La this past spring.

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Speaker 8: Let's dive back in.

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Speaker 1: Our next speaker is a wonderful poet, McKean, yessir.

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Speaker 3: The next person that we're going to bring up is

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Speaker 3: McKeen Yasar, who is a poet and student doctor and

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Speaker 3: community health advocate and also one of my best friends.

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Speaker 3: Come on at McKean.

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Speaker 1: Was good everyone.

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Speaker 7: My name is mackeen.

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Speaker 12: As Meg said, I am a poet and a student doctor,

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Speaker 12: a medical student at Charles R. Drew University, and I

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Speaker 12: would like to say that I am in full support

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Speaker 12: of Reimagine Eliot Coalition's demand to increase community investment. We

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Speaker 12: become organizers in an attempt to create a world we

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Speaker 12: have yet to see, but has always been here, to

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Speaker 12: alchemize hope and to action, make dreams into reality, to

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Speaker 12: tell truth and justice to us like clouds, to pass

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Speaker 12: on to our children, to be tied to them.

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Speaker 7: As kites anchored in the wind.

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Speaker 13: There has never been a win that was not within

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Speaker 13: our grasp, never been a world that we couldn't conjure

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Speaker 13: from the ruins of empires. We have been here before,

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Speaker 13: from midnight meetings, wrapped in the cloak of a sided

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Speaker 13: chance to arms, chain lot together in streets, sweaty palms,

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Speaker 13: together under rain of rubber bullets and tear gas, charged

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Speaker 13: with the crime of demanding freedom. There has never been

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Speaker 13: an organizer who I haven't met, who had not given

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Speaker 13: me courage to demand freedom. It is my birthright to

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Speaker 13: bear witness to this sky, to have my feet feel

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Speaker 13: this dirt, to breathe in these trees, and sit in

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Speaker 13: homes of plenty, made scarce by the twisted imaginations of

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Speaker 13: this carstro state, capitalizing off of the.

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Speaker 7: Corporate drain of our labor.

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Speaker 13: Indigenous ways say we were never ones to own the land,

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Speaker 13: but only to care for it.

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Speaker 7: So let us care for this land, So let us

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Speaker 7: care for our people.

436
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 13: These days, I daydream of what it means to turn

437
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 13: the keys of the city back.

438
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 7: To the people and to light a blaze greed to

439
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:45,720
Speaker 7: keep us warm.

440
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,440
Speaker 13: I am losing far too many people to the cold

441
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,680
Speaker 13: agony of a slow death, seeing one too many mothers

442
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 13: become ghosts from their own bodies on skid row, see

443
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 13: too many babies, pray for sun and shoes in the

444
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,440
Speaker 13: backseats of leaky vand and r V encamp men. The

445
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 13: counterclicks a hunted pattern of preventable passings. As I witnessed

446
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 13: my brothers meet their maker before ever hitting thirty, I

447
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 13: wonder if they got discount coupon's for inalienable rights. How

448
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 13: much empty lots cost, and if we could use them

449
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:16,840
Speaker 13: to build homes, And how many gardens it takes to

450
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 13: feed all the families in the hood. And I wonder

451
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 13: how much it takes to reclaim what came for our

452
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,719
Speaker 13: sweat and tears, what was ours to begin with. If

453
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,040
Speaker 13: I could write this into a song, it would sound

454
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,760
Speaker 13: like Donnie Hathaway meets lift every voice and sing to

455
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 13: the rhythm of talking drums, calling to the sky for

456
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 13: a blessing of possibility, that we finally become body from

457
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 13: the echoes of our past revolutionary projects unfinished. Because we

458
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:45,920
Speaker 13: are the seeds of maroon revolts and gorilla conspiracies in

459
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,479
Speaker 13: the heart of night, we are the high than runners

460
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 13: from Pueblow to Poe blow the match that set the

461
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:52,160
Speaker 13: plantation ablaze.

462
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 7: We resist. We resist.

463
00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 13: Civic engagement only a tactic to change landscapes so that

464
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,479
Speaker 13: we can begin the work of sand castle building our

465
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 13: brighter tomorrows. I believe our strategy needs shifting. I believe

466
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,920
Speaker 13: it needs to be protracted. I believe it needs to

467
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 13: go beyond any single issue so that we could connect

468
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 13: each other to a collective struggle to give everything back

469
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 13: to the people. If I could write this in blood,

470
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 13: I would pin it across City Hall. The call to

471
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 13: challenge our movement, to put on the shoes, to become

472
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,240
Speaker 13: what we have always been destined to be, and to

473
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 13: turn ourselves into giants.

474
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,600
Speaker 7: This is an ode to the organizer and ode to

475
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 7: the city.

476
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,560
Speaker 13: Us, the descendants of those bladores, those imigrantes, the migrants,

477
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:39,440
Speaker 13: south Central's brightest, East LA's committed Compton's Cavalry, Watts health workers,

478
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 13: the heartbeats of the city.

479
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 7: Because we are who we say we are, and we

480
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 7: are all that we were ever meant to be.

481
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:47,880
Speaker 13: And there's nothing that they could ever say, nothing that

482
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 13: they could ever do to stop us. Because when we fight,

483
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 13: because when we fight, because when we fight, because.

484
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 7: When we fight, thank you.

485
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 1: I got to catch up with McCain after the event

486
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,959
Speaker 1: to speak about his work and support of Reimagine LA.

487
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 1: Here's our conversation. I wanted to talk to you very quickly.

488
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:18,320
Speaker 1: I know you have time is against you. What motivated

489
00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: you to or inspired you to write that poem?

490
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:21,680
Speaker 8: But it was very moving. Yeah, thank you.

491
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 12: It's just been a clination of you know, you later

492
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 12: experiences I've had over the past couple of years. I

493
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 12: feel like ever since you know, the world broke open

494
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 12: in twenty twenty, you know, through the pandemic and the

495
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:38,480
Speaker 12: murder of George Floyd, you know, there's been so much mobilization,

496
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,200
Speaker 12: there's been so much power and people, you know, speaking

497
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 12: truth to power. But then there's also been a lot

498
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 12: of suppression, overt and covert, and I think we're at

499
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 12: a point now where there's a lot of urgency heading

500
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 12: into twenty twenty, you know, for heading into this election season,

501
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:59,040
Speaker 12: where the situations that we're living in economically, you know,

502
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 12: when it comes to our house and when it comes

503
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:02,920
Speaker 12: to employment, when it comes to being able to you know,

504
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 12: make rent.

505
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:05,960
Speaker 7: You know, towards the end of the month, it's like a.

506
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:10,200
Speaker 12: Lot of people are struggling, and I feel like now

507
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 12: is the most important time uh to be engaged, to

508
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:23,080
Speaker 12: be conscious, to be active in the struggle. And there's

509
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 12: a lot of frustration that comes with kind of like

510
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 12: seeing all the things in terms of how things have

511
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,320
Speaker 12: panned out over the past couple of years. Police shootings

512
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,520
Speaker 12: have you know, in terms of police shootings against unarmed

513
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,120
Speaker 12: folks have only gone up over the past year. You know,

514
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:36,840
Speaker 12: more folks are in the house than they were before

515
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 12: in the in the past couple of years, rent sky

516
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 12: high across the arm in LA to live in l A.

517
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,600
Speaker 12: People are struggling, My friends are struggling, my family is struggling,

518
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,719
Speaker 12: and now is not the time to be quiet. And so,

519
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 12: you know, no better place to get something off your

520
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:52,959
Speaker 12: chest in a rally.

521
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 8: Absolutely.

522
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, many of my listeners are being

523
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 1: educated as we speak when I do the episod old

524
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,040
Speaker 1: and would like to have a sense of what can

525
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:03,360
Speaker 1: they do.

526
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 7: What would you be your suggestion, Well, that's a tough question.

527
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:13,000
Speaker 12: I think that in terms of in terms of civic engagement,

528
00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:16,840
Speaker 12: you know, helping push the advocacy movements like Reimagine Coalition

529
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:20,919
Speaker 12: to get the county to commit towards divestment from cross

530
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 12: Rod systems to reinvest in community is definitely key. You know,

531
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,640
Speaker 12: we spend you know, the budget for LAPD and the

532
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:29,879
Speaker 12: County Sheriffs has only gone up over the past couple

533
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,759
Speaker 12: of years. And that money, the money is there, it's

534
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 12: just not going to the places that it needs to go.

535
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,360
Speaker 12: So as far as civic engagement goes, stepping in with

536
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 12: you know, coalitions like the Imagine Coalition to make those

537
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 12: demands that are are very very important. So that's one

538
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,839
Speaker 12: thing that comes to mind. Also, mutual aid just doing

539
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:49,920
Speaker 12: the work in your own communities and you know, working

540
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:51,960
Speaker 12: to make sure that everyone has the material needs met.

541
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,400
Speaker 12: That looks like, you know in terms of you know,

542
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 12: in your own neighborhood. You know, what is it like

543
00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:57,800
Speaker 12: in terms of the work that you're doing with in

544
00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,920
Speaker 12: house folks, What does it look like in terms of

545
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 12: making sure that you know that folks are fed, that

546
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,080
Speaker 12: they have clothing, you know, resource sharing to like get

547
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:08,359
Speaker 12: people access to pay for rent. You know, there are

548
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,320
Speaker 12: people doing a lot of work across the city in

549
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,239
Speaker 12: different spaces. One that comes to mind is like miss

550
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,240
Speaker 12: Rogers hood in LA that does allow really great neutral

551
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:18,919
Speaker 12: or mutual aid work.

552
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 7: There is the mutual aid l a.

553
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 12: Network that it's a way of you know, providing for

554
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,560
Speaker 12: people's material needs to start beginning to build you know, power,

555
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:31,879
Speaker 12: and there was a lot of work on different fronts,

556
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,040
Speaker 12: but those are two things that come to mind at

557
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 12: least for now.

558
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 8: Well, thank you very much. I know you are on

559
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:37,920
Speaker 8: press for time.

560
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,800
Speaker 1: I thank you very much against your power perform and

561
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:41,600
Speaker 1: again it's.

562
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 8: Nice to meet you.

563
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 7: Pleasure Wench.

564
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: You can follow mckeen's work over on Instagram at McKeen Underscore. Yes, sir.

565
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,399
Speaker 1: The next speaker at the conference was a unique one,

566
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 1: a high school student named Floyd, who brought the youth

567
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:04,640
Speaker 1: message to us in full force. Let's listen back in.

568
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,680
Speaker 3: Thank you. We are now going to move on to

569
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 3: our next speaker, who is a YJC Free LA high

570
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 3: school student. Right, so we're gonna give it over to Floyd.

571
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 5: Hardy Poma Floyd. We're talking, uh spreend.

572
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 14: My experience of probation is, uh, they put us in

573
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 14: sales and then when you come free, you still not

574
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,400
Speaker 14: free because you gotta go through probations. You gotta do

575
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 14: all this paperwork and pitt you all through these things.

576
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:46,279
Speaker 14: For me, it's terrible. You gotta go through if I

577
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,399
Speaker 14: had the LA County with for me, I will help

578
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:54,160
Speaker 14: them with housing, all these housing, peerful medical services, help

579
00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:57,279
Speaker 14: them with medical things that we need. They want to

580
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 14: put us in sales and put us on probation and

581
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,000
Speaker 14: drop us in the ste like we animals.

582
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:07,799
Speaker 5: That shit is terrible. Feel me. We gotta uh, then

583
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,960
Speaker 5: my phone dies. My speech was on that.

584
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:18,080
Speaker 14: Yeah, they want to put us in cells. They want

585
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 14: to lock us up. That's just terrible. We gotta fight

586
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,600
Speaker 14: for the freedom, fight for us to feel me. They

587
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:26,600
Speaker 14: want to lock us down like we ain't nothing, Like

588
00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:29,719
Speaker 14: we want to just rob people, kill people. That's not

589
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 14: what we want to do. We want to get jobs.

590
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 14: We want to go to far we want to career paths.

591
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 14: That's what we want to do. We want to travel

592
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,000
Speaker 14: the world see things. They want us to keep us

593
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:40,919
Speaker 14: in the hood. That ship is terrible. We're not trying

594
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:43,680
Speaker 14: to be there, We're not trying to hear shootings and

595
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 14: all this every day.

596
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,879
Speaker 5: It's terrible. I mean, that's all I have to say.

597
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,320
Speaker 1: Boyd and I spoke for a moment after, and his

598
00:38:57,520 --> 00:38:59,239
Speaker 1: thoughts were short and to the point.

599
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,279
Speaker 8: So, Floyd, tell us a little bit about your story.

600
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:03,840
Speaker 8: What happened.

601
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 14: Basically, they try to put us in jail, put us

602
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,040
Speaker 14: in probation, lock us up, and then when you still

603
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:13,439
Speaker 14: be when you still go to jail, you're still not free.

604
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 14: You feel me, You gotta go through this time, you

605
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:16,080
Speaker 14: gotta they pitch you with a.

606
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,360
Speaker 5: Little ako monitor. That's it is terrible. You feel me.

607
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 5: You're not trying to I'm not trying to a lot

608
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 5: of people not trying to do that. You feel me.

609
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,000
Speaker 14: So my experiences was basically I was trying to get help,

610
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:29,759
Speaker 14: trying to get resources from jail. They wasn't offering it.

611
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:31,759
Speaker 14: I was trying to go to school. They wasn't trying

612
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:33,400
Speaker 14: to pay me in school. They were just letting me

613
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 14: pin me in the sale. Feel me, I was trying

614
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:38,360
Speaker 14: to get my education. They wasn't letting me so.

615
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,240
Speaker 1: Well, it's supposed to be a rehabilitation kind of center,

616
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 1: but they were not trying to.

617
00:39:43,239 --> 00:39:45,360
Speaker 5: Do rehability and trying to Yeah, they wasn't trying to

618
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:47,040
Speaker 5: receive that.

619
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:47,480
Speaker 8: I wasn't.

620
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,120
Speaker 5: They wasn't receiving that. So I have to like just

621
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:54,160
Speaker 5: basically just sit there and not learn nothing. It was terrible.

622
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: What it would you do differently in order to make

623
00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,200
Speaker 1: sure that this conversation is hurt for people that don't

624
00:39:59,200 --> 00:39:59,840
Speaker 1: know this is going on.

625
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:05,280
Speaker 14: Oh, what I'll do differently, Probably we need more schools,

626
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:12,719
Speaker 14: more health centers or rehabilitation centers. Oh, kids that are

627
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,560
Speaker 14: struggling from drugs and stuff. We need more things like that,

628
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:20,720
Speaker 14: more schools like YJC. More you've built Youth coalitionis stuff

629
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 14: like that.

630
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,239
Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much Floyd for taking the time

631
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,000
Speaker 1: to talk with me, and I would probably look you

632
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,239
Speaker 1: up again and have a little bit another big conversation

633
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:31,000
Speaker 1: after seeing the progress of what's going on with Thank

634
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:37,000
Speaker 1: you very much again. Lloyd's message was succinct and needing help,

635
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,440
Speaker 1: and it's our responsibility as an older community to help them.

636
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,759
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to go back into the system. He

637
00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:46,080
Speaker 1: wants to try and make a better choice of life

638
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: skills the system is not providing for him. Maya Angelou

639
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:53,960
Speaker 1: has a saying, I know why the cage bird sings.

640
00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 1: Lloyd wants the opportunity to be released from the cage

641
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:04,000
Speaker 1: at the sore thrive freely. Next, the host of the

642
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:07,600
Speaker 1: press conference, Meghan Castillo, shared her thoughts.

643
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:12,040
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you, and now y'all going to hear

644
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 3: from me I'm just going to give some briefer mark

645
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,280
Speaker 3: but again, good morning everyone. My name is Magan Castillo

646
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,880
Speaker 3: and I'm the policy and Advocacy manager at Law DEFENSA.

647
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 3: And today we gather to demand change, to demand justice,

648
00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:28,920
Speaker 3: and to demand care first. We stand here driven by

649
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,879
Speaker 3: the urgency to transform our society into one that prioritizes

650
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:37,080
Speaker 3: compassion over incarceration and care over punishment. In twenty nineteen,

651
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,520
Speaker 3: advocates and county departments, philanthropy, and other entities developed what's

652
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 3: called the ATI Report, which came out of the La

653
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 3: County Alternatives work Group. The document, nearly four years later,

654
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 3: continues to serve as a roadmap to a more just

655
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:52,239
Speaker 3: and equitable future. It's a testament to the power of

656
00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:57,200
Speaker 3: community collaboration and the tireless efforts of advocates, service providers,

657
00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 3: and concerned community members who refuse to accept the status quo.

658
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:04,280
Speaker 3: For far too long, our criminal justice system has failed

659
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:08,839
Speaker 3: our most vulnerable community members. It has disproportionately targeted Black,

660
00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:12,319
Speaker 3: Indigenous and LATINX communities, trapping them in a vicious cycle

661
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:15,960
Speaker 3: of poverty, trauma, and incarceration. Seventy four percent of those

662
00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:19,440
Speaker 3: arrested in Los Angeles county are black and Latine. Our

663
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:23,359
Speaker 3: jails are overflown with individuals who are sick, who are poor,

664
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,879
Speaker 3: and who are experiencing homelessness and struggling with mental health

665
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,400
Speaker 3: and step since disorders. This is not justice. This is

666
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:34,640
Speaker 3: a systemic failure. But the solutions are there and they

667
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:38,760
Speaker 3: are clear. We must overhaul our criminal injustice system, centering

668
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:43,759
Speaker 3: care first, and root ourselves in human dignity. We have

669
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,120
Speaker 3: seen the impact of community based care and services. We

670
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:51,279
Speaker 3: know that investing in holistic, neighborhood based treatment, housing, and

671
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,839
Speaker 3: employment and support services can break the cycle of incarceration

672
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,719
Speaker 3: and build safer and healthier communities. The recommendations put forth

673
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,279
Speaker 3: in an ATI report were not mere suggestions. They are

674
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 3: imperative steps toward a more just and holistic society. We

675
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 3: must expand. Yes, yes, we must expand and scale up

676
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:12,920
Speaker 3: community based care, utilize behavioral health responses instead of law

677
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:17,080
Speaker 3: enforcement support, meaningful pre trial release and divergence services, provide

678
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:21,360
Speaker 3: effective treatment as alternatives to jail time, and ensure that

679
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 3: the implementation of strategies work to eliminate both racial and

680
00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 3: gender disparities. I also want to say that the proposed

681
00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 3: budget for this fiscal year is a gross misallocation of

682
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:34,840
Speaker 3: our community's harder and dollars. It's funneled resources into departments

683
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 3: with track records of violence and oppression, while neglecting the

684
00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 3: urgent needs of our most vulnerable community members. Consider this, y'all.

685
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,319
Speaker 3: In this past year loan, over one hundred and fifty

686
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:48,319
Speaker 3: million dollars were paid out in lawsuits for the share

687
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 3: of department's liability, which is nearly double what it had

688
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:55,600
Speaker 3: cost the year before. Yet the proposed budget continues to

689
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:59,240
Speaker 3: allocate over seven hundred dollars per resident from the general

690
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:03,279
Speaker 3: fund to law, law and justice, which is a staggering

691
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:07,040
Speaker 3: portion going to the Sheriff in Probation's department. But where

692
00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 3: are the investments in care? Where is the commitment to

693
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:13,920
Speaker 3: community well being? This this is not just unjust, This

694
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:17,600
Speaker 3: is really outrageous, and we cannot continue to pour billions

695
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:20,560
Speaker 3: into systems that perpetuate harm and violence. We can outstand

696
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,800
Speaker 3: idly by while our youth are incarcerating facilities that violate

697
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:28,160
Speaker 3: the most basic standards of human decency. We cannot accept

698
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:32,719
Speaker 3: a budget that prioritizes punishment over rehabilitation and incarceration over

699
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:36,759
Speaker 3: community investment. We demand the closure of Men's Central Jail

700
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 3: without a replacement locked facility. We demand the funding of

701
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:45,440
Speaker 3: adequate and effective community mental health beds, including supportive partmanent housing.

702
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 3: We demand a budget that fully funds Care First Committee investment,

703
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:54,080
Speaker 3: allocating at least nine hundred million. Andally, we demand investments

704
00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,840
Speaker 3: from the probation and robust funding for the youth, the

705
00:44:56,840 --> 00:45:02,520
Speaker 3: Department of Youth Development and Youth Justice RAMMAGIC And lastly, lastly,

706
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:06,280
Speaker 3: we demand a commitment to building a care first vision

707
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:11,920
Speaker 3: through authentic community collaboration, power sharing, and participatory budgeting. Our

708
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:15,720
Speaker 3: voices will not be silenced, our communities will not be ignored,

709
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:18,520
Speaker 3: and we refuse to accept a budget that continues to

710
00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:20,200
Speaker 3: perpetuate harm. Thank you.

711
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:29,840
Speaker 1: This conference was Megan's passion, and I was really excited

712
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,080
Speaker 1: to speak to her privately after her motivating speech.

713
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:38,919
Speaker 8: Let's check that out. Thank you for taking a time.

714
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:41,840
Speaker 1: Pretty sure, I wanted to ask you a few questions, like,

715
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:44,680
Speaker 1: for example, what got you into the fight to do this,

716
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:45,680
Speaker 1: to have this conversation.

717
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:46,279
Speaker 8: Yes.

718
00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 3: Actually, one of the things that really spurs my commitments

719
00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:53,160
Speaker 3: to this work is in twenty sixteen, one of my comrades,

720
00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:55,400
Speaker 3: Kenny Walkins, was shot in the back by the LAPD,

721
00:45:56,440 --> 00:45:59,279
Speaker 3: and I knew then that the system just didn't work,

722
00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 3: you know, growing up low income household, I just I

723
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:06,800
Speaker 3: saw that the system was like really problematic, seeing unhoused

724
00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:11,239
Speaker 3: people on every corner here in south central Los Angeles.

725
00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:14,520
Speaker 3: Also like my experiences with my loved ones who were

726
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:17,880
Speaker 3: in and out of the carcer system, going to jail

727
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 3: and you know, their struggles with substance use and abuse.

728
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 3: It's just something that again stood out for me growing

729
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,360
Speaker 3: up as a young child. And I think I was

730
00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:32,200
Speaker 3: really radicalized in my young adult year, so you know,

731
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 3: around the age of eighteen twenty when I just realized

732
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:37,239
Speaker 3: that there was something that we could do right. I

733
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:40,279
Speaker 3: didn't have to stand idly by and just allow my

734
00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:43,919
Speaker 3: community members and my family members to struggle, but there

735
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 3: that we had to say, and that we could make

736
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,880
Speaker 3: adjustments accordingly, and we could demand accordingly.

737
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 1: What would your recommendations be to get people get off

738
00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:54,640
Speaker 1: the bench and try to you know, have let that

739
00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:55,359
Speaker 1: voice being out.

740
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:57,200
Speaker 3: Yes, I think some of the things that come up

741
00:46:57,320 --> 00:46:59,840
Speaker 3: is oftentimes this work can be overwhelming, or you know

742
00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:02,440
Speaker 3: how to plug in, but definitely get involved with the

743
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:05,400
Speaker 3: local organization. Right if you're listening to we the un housed.

744
00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:07,480
Speaker 3: You already know that there are things that you can do,

745
00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:10,680
Speaker 3: so get involved with what's happening locally at the city level,

746
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,520
Speaker 3: at the county level, and also get involved with the organization.

747
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 3: But really see how you can influence and make sure

748
00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 3: that your taxpayer dollars are going where you want them

749
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,840
Speaker 3: to go. Right. We want housing, we want mental health services,

750
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:26,160
Speaker 3: we want jobs, we want access for youth services and

751
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:29,319
Speaker 3: twenty four hour youth centers. So just figure out how

752
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 3: you can get involved to local organizations that are already

753
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:33,320
Speaker 3: doing the work on the ground and help boster the

754
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,840
Speaker 3: work that they're doing, showing up at the city council

755
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 3: hall meetings, showing up at the Board of supervisors, and

756
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:41,560
Speaker 3: if you can't show up, there's often also opportunities to

757
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:45,239
Speaker 3: give written public comments. So going online is submitting your

758
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:47,439
Speaker 3: written public comment on a weekly basis and just making

759
00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:48,520
Speaker 3: sure that your voice is heard.

760
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,120
Speaker 1: I think one of the successful things that I've noticed

761
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:53,520
Speaker 1: about you guys's movement that I've been watching for AFAR

762
00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 1: is that you guys have broken in a way, broken

763
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:02,320
Speaker 1: the mold in the sense that you are pushing people

764
00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:04,800
Speaker 1: to say that we have money to do something different,

765
00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:07,760
Speaker 1: and that is such a unique thing because our society

766
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,120
Speaker 1: is a very blaming and shaming well everyone will experience

767
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:13,279
Speaker 1: and know that, and as well is a very a

768
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:17,040
Speaker 1: suppression of looking at alternative solutions because I have my

769
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:19,720
Speaker 1: own some of my friends who says, we need the cops,

770
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:22,160
Speaker 1: or you know what happens if you get something happens

771
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:24,279
Speaker 1: to you don't call the cops or those kind of things.

772
00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:27,360
Speaker 1: Is the cop in our head or the belief system

773
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:30,680
Speaker 1: that if you do run a file of the law,

774
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:34,759
Speaker 1: that you deserve every violent or hostile interaction or exchange

775
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:38,200
Speaker 1: consequence that you get, and it changes. One of the

776
00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:41,000
Speaker 1: things that really talks about is to really the essence

777
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:44,800
Speaker 1: of rehabilitation. Floyd spoke with me talking about he was

778
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:48,680
Speaker 1: asking for services, asking for chances to rehabilitate himself.

779
00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:51,719
Speaker 8: He was unable to do so. So what it does

780
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:54,239
Speaker 8: is to able to the system of a.

781
00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:57,960
Speaker 1: Lower confidence in being able to get out of the

782
00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 1: flagmire that you have the societ ideas put you in.

783
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:04,279
Speaker 8: But I'm on a soapbox, But do you have any

784
00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:04,880
Speaker 8: insights on that?

785
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:05,319
Speaker 15: Yeah.

786
00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:07,239
Speaker 3: One of the things that I think this system has

787
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:10,960
Speaker 3: really done successfully in a lot of ways is suppress

788
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:14,359
Speaker 3: our imagination. And I think in our imagination is where

789
00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:17,200
Speaker 3: our creativity lies, is where our freedom lies. And so

790
00:49:17,360 --> 00:49:21,800
Speaker 3: that's ultimately I think how the system has really suppressed

791
00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 3: our people is really making sure that we are unable

792
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:27,600
Speaker 3: to rest. Right in your idea of rest, you are

793
00:49:27,719 --> 00:49:30,279
Speaker 3: able to dream. And if you're not arrested, if you

794
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:33,000
Speaker 3: are not able to dream, if you are in a

795
00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 3: constant state of unrest in survival, you're not able to

796
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,880
Speaker 3: really dream. And I think what we are challenging community

797
00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:43,120
Speaker 3: members and county stakeholder and our elected officials to do

798
00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:46,880
Speaker 3: is really dream, really reimagine what our systems can look like,

799
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 3: really reimagine what it looks like to actually invest in

800
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,359
Speaker 3: the systems of care. Like you said, what was talking

801
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:54,800
Speaker 3: about he wished he had the services, right, and the

802
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:58,400
Speaker 3: services are out there, they're just not funded to the

803
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:00,960
Speaker 3: degree that our carceral system. So what does it look

804
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:03,920
Speaker 3: like for us to actually fund you twenty four hour

805
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:07,960
Speaker 3: youth centers right where they are located on every street

806
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:10,200
Speaker 3: rather than a liquor store on every corner, right, So

807
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:12,040
Speaker 3: what does it look like for us to bolster up

808
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,759
Speaker 3: those resources and challenge One of the things that I

809
00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:18,239
Speaker 3: continue to learn. Is our budget is growing? Right? We

810
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:20,799
Speaker 3: have a forty five billion dollar budget here in Los

811
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:24,760
Speaker 3: Angeles County. That is enough money to do for everyone

812
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:26,279
Speaker 3: to have everything that they need and most of what

813
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:29,280
Speaker 3: they want. And it's really important for us to allocate

814
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:33,440
Speaker 3: those funds properly and fiscally and do the responsible thing

815
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:35,239
Speaker 3: by our community members.

816
00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:39,520
Speaker 8: Well excellently put us. How can we stay abreast on

817
00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:40,080
Speaker 8: what's going on.

818
00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:43,160
Speaker 3: With Sure, definitely get involved with the work of the

819
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,320
Speaker 3: Reimagine LA coalition. You can follow us on social media

820
00:50:46,520 --> 00:50:51,520
Speaker 3: at reimagine underscore LA. That's both on Twitter now known

821
00:50:51,560 --> 00:50:55,640
Speaker 3: as x and Instagram. But get involved with local organizations.

822
00:50:55,719 --> 00:50:58,000
Speaker 3: We're out here with the Youth Justice Coalition, we're out

823
00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:02,920
Speaker 3: here with the Translatina Coalition and our Native Indigenous communities.

824
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:05,959
Speaker 3: But certainly follow us on all social media platforms. Again,

825
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:09,360
Speaker 3: that's Reimagined underscore dot LA. And if you don't have

826
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:11,960
Speaker 3: social media, you can still take part in the conversation

827
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:16,680
Speaker 3: by taking our survey at reimagine dot La forward's last

828
00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:19,080
Speaker 3: survey and if you go to that web page you'll

829
00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:21,240
Speaker 3: also be able to see that translated in Spanish.

830
00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:23,279
Speaker 8: Thank you very much for your.

831
00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:25,880
Speaker 1: Time and when we come back, we'll hear the end

832
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:28,719
Speaker 1: of the conference and discuss what we can do moving

833
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:36,440
Speaker 1: So welcome back to William House. We're back at the

834
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:40,279
Speaker 1: care Dot Cage's conference in LA. Toward the end of

835
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:43,920
Speaker 1: the event, Reimagine LA's Megan Castile brought out a few

836
00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:47,520
Speaker 1: more speakers, all of whom brought a new dimension to

837
00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:53,000
Speaker 1: the discussion their common goal to make the Border supervisors

838
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:57,239
Speaker 1: do their job. First up, we heard from Black Lives

839
00:51:57,320 --> 00:52:01,399
Speaker 1: Matter organizer Baba Aquila, and he has something to say

840
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:04,160
Speaker 1: about demanding accountability.

841
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:09,520
Speaker 16: Mag It was great, but reading off those five demands,

842
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:12,600
Speaker 16: and I think one of the things that we gotta

843
00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:16,640
Speaker 16: do is remember those demands, and so we gonna put

844
00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:18,560
Speaker 16: that on a loop so y'all can get it full

845
00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:22,160
Speaker 16: of First of all, I want to thank the Reimagined

846
00:52:22,200 --> 00:52:25,759
Speaker 16: Coalition and the measure JA Coalition for constantly being on.

847
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:29,400
Speaker 6: The front lines, challenging, confronting, and.

848
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:32,120
Speaker 16: If necessary, disrupting the Border.

849
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 6: Supervisors to do their jobs.

850
00:52:34,160 --> 00:52:36,359
Speaker 16: Look here, I want y'all to know something I did

851
00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:40,480
Speaker 16: not knock on doors four years ago and tell people

852
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:42,680
Speaker 16: were gonna close Men's Central Jail.

853
00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:45,120
Speaker 6: We're gonna reduce the budget by ten percent.

854
00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:48,040
Speaker 16: I did not knock on doors and make phone calls

855
00:52:48,080 --> 00:52:50,320
Speaker 16: to ask people to vote yes on Measure JA, so

856
00:52:50,480 --> 00:52:54,080
Speaker 16: that then four years later nothing happens. I didn't knock

857
00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:56,759
Speaker 16: on doors and get Black Lives Matters and other groups

858
00:52:56,840 --> 00:52:59,000
Speaker 16: to knock on doors and talk to people so that

859
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:03,320
Speaker 16: we could re imagine Los Angeles. I didn't knock on

860
00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:06,640
Speaker 16: doors and talk to people and say vote yes on

861
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:09,960
Speaker 16: Measure j so that it could just sit on the shelf.

862
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:10,960
Speaker 6: I did not.

863
00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 7: Talk to voters and convince them to vote yes so.

864
00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:17,880
Speaker 6: That you could do nothing.

865
00:53:19,040 --> 00:53:19,800
Speaker 8: We didn't do that.

866
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:24,400
Speaker 16: That's not what we did four years ago. And we

867
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:27,960
Speaker 16: didn't say if you get time, closed men Central Dal.

868
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:31,840
Speaker 16: We said close it now. We didn't say we wanted

869
00:53:32,160 --> 00:53:34,440
Speaker 16: whatever percent that you could come up with, or whatever

870
00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:38,680
Speaker 16: you thought was good. We said ten percent. We didn't

871
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:41,480
Speaker 16: say eight and a half. We didn't say nine, we

872
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 16: didn't say three. We set ten percent. That's what we said.

873
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:49,479
Speaker 16: We went to the doors and asked one point three

874
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 16: million voters to vote yes for Messure J. So we're

875
00:53:54,719 --> 00:53:59,239
Speaker 16: saying to you now, bought a supervisors, do your job.

876
00:54:01,600 --> 00:54:06,000
Speaker 6: You were elected to carry out the will of the people.

877
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:09,440
Speaker 16: Measure Jane is the will of the people.

878
00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:12,120
Speaker 8: So do your job.

879
00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:17,080
Speaker 6: We are not here to remind you to do something

880
00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:17,960
Speaker 6: good if you can.

881
00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:20,520
Speaker 7: We are not here to say, oh, it would be

882
00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:21,360
Speaker 7: better if you did this.

883
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:23,520
Speaker 6: We are here to remind you.

884
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:29,480
Speaker 16: That the people of the county have spoken that the

885
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:34,799
Speaker 16: people of the county have said clearly what they want. Now,

886
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,680
Speaker 16: somehow or another, either you didn't hear, you didn't see,

887
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:38,440
Speaker 16: or you are.

888
00:54:38,480 --> 00:54:39,720
Speaker 6: Rejecting what they're saying.

889
00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:45,160
Speaker 16: And so that's why theres they reimagine Los Angeles, because

890
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:47,520
Speaker 16: we want to remind you of what they're saying.

891
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:50,640
Speaker 6: And I know you're looking, well, do we have to

892
00:54:50,719 --> 00:54:51,919
Speaker 6: give ten percent shit?

893
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:52,160
Speaker 12: Yet?

894
00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:52,399
Speaker 8: Yes?

895
00:54:52,520 --> 00:54:52,719
Speaker 3: You do?

896
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:57,040
Speaker 6: Yes you do. Do we have to close men Central

897
00:54:57,120 --> 00:54:57,560
Speaker 6: Day now?

898
00:54:57,840 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 8: Can we?

899
00:54:58,600 --> 00:54:58,799
Speaker 6: Yes?

900
00:54:58,880 --> 00:54:59,120
Speaker 4: You do.

901
00:55:00,719 --> 00:55:03,920
Speaker 6: This is not just a handful of energetic people.

902
00:55:04,680 --> 00:55:06,759
Speaker 16: This is not just a few groups sitting on the

903
00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:09,279
Speaker 16: side saying how can we make la better?

904
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:14,880
Speaker 7: This is the voice of the people that put.

905
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:15,600
Speaker 6: You in office.

906
00:55:16,880 --> 00:55:21,520
Speaker 16: So we are here to talk about reimagining Los Angeles.

907
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:22,880
Speaker 6: And if you.

908
00:55:23,040 --> 00:55:28,000
Speaker 16: Invest an over invest in the sheriff Department and in probation.

909
00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:31,960
Speaker 6: That's not reimagining Los Angeles. That's perpetuating the worst in

910
00:55:32,080 --> 00:55:32,800
Speaker 6: Los Angeles.

911
00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:38,720
Speaker 16: If you continue to over invest in the custural system.

912
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:42,920
Speaker 16: That's not reimagining Los Angeles. That's seeing what's already been

913
00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:46,360
Speaker 16: there and we know it. On work, we about reimagining

914
00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:47,320
Speaker 16: Los Angeles.

915
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:49,800
Speaker 7: Were about rethinking Los Angeles.

916
00:55:49,960 --> 00:55:53,560
Speaker 16: We are about reconceiving a better Los Angeles.

917
00:55:54,200 --> 00:55:58,840
Speaker 6: And so we say to the Border supervisors, do your job.

918
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:00,719
Speaker 6: As simple as that.

919
00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:05,120
Speaker 16: We ain't asking nothing more because that's what the people said.

920
00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:07,680
Speaker 16: And let me tell you how many people said it.

921
00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:11,680
Speaker 16: One point three million people.

922
00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:13,200
Speaker 8: All right.

923
00:56:13,719 --> 00:56:16,640
Speaker 16: So with that, I want to thank and acknowledge once

924
00:56:16,680 --> 00:56:20,759
Speaker 16: again the Reimagine Coalition, which Black Lives Matters is a

925
00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:23,880
Speaker 16: part of and we help participate in. I want to

926
00:56:23,920 --> 00:56:27,200
Speaker 16: acknowledge the fact that they are here. But more importantly,

927
00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:31,440
Speaker 16: I want to remind us who have showed up that

928
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:35,799
Speaker 16: our job is to remind the Border supervisors.

929
00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:37,760
Speaker 6: To do their joha.

930
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:41,040
Speaker 16: That's are we asking. We ain't asking y'all to walk

931
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:43,359
Speaker 16: the plane. We're asking you to do your job. Thank

932
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:45,280
Speaker 16: you so much on behalf of Black Lives Matters.

933
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:51,719
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Barbara A. Kelly. I know right

934
00:56:51,840 --> 00:56:54,319
Speaker 3: we are tied to the streets. We just have two

935
00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:56,800
Speaker 3: more speakers for you. We are rounding up our press

936
00:56:56,840 --> 00:56:59,840
Speaker 3: conference here. The next speaker that we have helps to

937
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:03,480
Speaker 3: us from the Justice LA Coalition and Dignity and Power now.

938
00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:07,719
Speaker 3: She is the COMMS coordinator there, Janet Assante.

939
00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:13,960
Speaker 15: Thank you so much, Megan, and thank you to everyone

940
00:57:14,080 --> 00:57:18,720
Speaker 15: for being here. I wasn't planning on starting my speech

941
00:57:18,800 --> 00:57:21,280
Speaker 15: this way, but since I've been standing here, I found

942
00:57:21,320 --> 00:57:24,640
Speaker 15: out that the twelfth person has died in LASD custody

943
00:57:24,720 --> 00:57:31,200
Speaker 15: this year. Today LASD has posted their twelfth death. So

944
00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:33,480
Speaker 15: I want to acknowledge that death in the face of

945
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:37,040
Speaker 15: not only the deaths that have happened up until today

946
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:40,320
Speaker 15: and including today, but also the death that will continue

947
00:57:40,360 --> 00:57:42,800
Speaker 15: to happen if our dollars are not reinvested.

948
00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:46,160
Speaker 3: This past weekend, myself.

949
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:48,479
Speaker 15: And other organizers joined in a Mother's Day weekend action

950
00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:51,439
Speaker 15: outside of two of the deadliest facilities in the nation,

951
00:57:51,880 --> 00:57:55,320
Speaker 15: Ellee County men Central Jail and Twin Towers. This action

952
00:57:55,560 --> 00:57:57,800
Speaker 15: was conceived of by mothers who have lost loved ones

953
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:01,440
Speaker 15: in the jails, mothers like doctor Pula Lucas, Terry Lovett,

954
00:58:01,720 --> 00:58:06,000
Speaker 15: to Nail Crook, Helen Jones, and others who for them

955
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:10,640
Speaker 15: Mother's Day will never be the same. Ten minutes before

956
00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:13,600
Speaker 15: the event even started, with only around ten people setting

957
00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:16,680
Speaker 15: up snacks and flowers. At this point, there were two

958
00:58:16,800 --> 00:58:20,720
Speaker 15: Sheriff's deputies threatening everyone with thousand dollars fines and worse.

959
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:25,600
Speaker 15: While I was able to de escalate with those deputies,

960
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:29,720
Speaker 15: the officers at MCJ were already escalating. We began seeing

961
00:58:29,840 --> 00:58:34,160
Speaker 15: floods of families leaving Men's Central Jail because they were

962
00:58:34,240 --> 00:58:38,920
Speaker 15: told visitation was over due to our disruption of snacks

963
00:58:39,080 --> 00:58:47,640
Speaker 15: and flowers outside. Within fifteen minutes of relocating our event

964
00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:51,560
Speaker 15: across the street to protect families, twenty five officers in

965
00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:55,560
Speaker 15: formations with riot shields, helmets and tape covering their names

966
00:58:55,600 --> 00:58:58,280
Speaker 15: and identifying information on their uniforms came out.

967
00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:00,240
Speaker 3: We had children eating Lae munch.

968
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:05,480
Speaker 15: If the Board of Supervisors is funding LASD to have

969
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:09,320
Speaker 15: the time, the money, and the resources to show up

970
00:59:09,400 --> 00:59:12,960
Speaker 15: with threats against peaceful black mamas ten minutes prior to

971
00:59:13,120 --> 00:59:16,720
Speaker 15: Mother's Day event, where are the resources? Ten minutes after

972
00:59:17,120 --> 00:59:20,360
Speaker 15: somebody needs a mental health crisis intervention and can't get it,

973
00:59:22,040 --> 00:59:26,160
Speaker 15: they can roll out in fifteen minutes with formations and shields.

974
00:59:26,560 --> 00:59:29,040
Speaker 15: Where is the placement for folks who get divergent from

975
00:59:29,080 --> 00:59:32,400
Speaker 15: a judge and then rotten jail for a year waiting

976
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:37,840
Speaker 15: to get it like asayo, robetto Junior, close the jails

977
00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:41,000
Speaker 15: that you committed to without replacement and bring online ten

978
00:59:41,080 --> 00:59:44,080
Speaker 15: thousand community mental health care beds like we voted for.

979
00:59:44,560 --> 00:59:47,280
Speaker 15: We need to fund care first because the families have

980
00:59:47,440 --> 00:59:51,640
Speaker 15: already paid the ultimate price. It is our communities who

981
00:59:51,720 --> 00:59:54,760
Speaker 15: have already spoken for it with Measure J. And when

982
00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:58,200
Speaker 15: they fund care first today we say no more delay.

983
00:59:58,760 --> 01:00:05,480
Speaker 15: Close MCJ, no more delay, close mc J, no more delay,

984
01:00:06,120 --> 01:00:12,920
Speaker 15: close MCJ, close mc J, and thank you so much

985
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:13,400
Speaker 15: for having me.

986
01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:23,160
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you, Jennet. Lest but certainly not least,

987
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:27,520
Speaker 3: we have my sister in the struggle, So heat your card,

988
01:00:27,680 --> 01:00:31,320
Speaker 3: who is a poet and organizing director at the Youth

989
01:00:31,600 --> 01:00:34,240
Speaker 3: Justice Coalition, Jes.

990
01:00:35,720 --> 01:00:36,680
Speaker 7: Let's pop it up.

991
01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:37,360
Speaker 3: For my sister.

992
01:00:37,800 --> 01:00:42,840
Speaker 17: Thank you, Tom, thank you to be called Megan's sisters

993
01:00:42,880 --> 01:00:47,520
Speaker 17: the honor Megan's badass like everyone like everyone here is.

994
01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:51,720
Speaker 17: And then I'm going to share a poem that I wrote,

995
01:00:52,440 --> 01:00:54,960
Speaker 17: but before I do, I want to I want to

996
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:58,600
Speaker 17: start off with the quote that kind of drives home

997
01:00:58,720 --> 01:01:01,440
Speaker 17: the fact that art is what we leave behind.

998
01:01:01,520 --> 01:01:02,200
Speaker 3: After We're Gone.

999
01:01:03,200 --> 01:01:07,120
Speaker 17: The poem is by Yahari Amanti. I never say his

1000
01:01:07,240 --> 01:01:11,280
Speaker 17: name right, so apologies, okay, he said. I've often said

1001
01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:14,800
Speaker 17: that all poetry is political. This is because real poems

1002
01:01:14,920 --> 01:01:19,040
Speaker 17: deal with a human response to reality, and politics is

1003
01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:23,320
Speaker 17: a part of reality, history in the making. Even a

1004
01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:26,439
Speaker 17: poet writes about sitting in a glass house drinking tea,

1005
01:01:26,840 --> 01:01:33,480
Speaker 17: it reflects, it reflects politics. So in the spirit of

1006
01:01:33,640 --> 01:01:36,920
Speaker 17: poetry is political. In the spirit of poetry speaks for

1007
01:01:37,000 --> 01:01:40,120
Speaker 17: the now. I'm gonna read a poem that I wrote.

1008
01:01:40,160 --> 01:01:46,360
Speaker 17: It is called Sorry, Unborn Black Boy. Dear countless unborn

1009
01:01:46,440 --> 01:01:50,280
Speaker 17: Black Boys. This letter is an apology to you before

1010
01:01:50,360 --> 01:01:53,360
Speaker 17: you are born. I am sorry you will see people

1011
01:01:53,520 --> 01:01:56,200
Speaker 17: that look like you only when they've been taken by

1012
01:01:56,280 --> 01:02:00,760
Speaker 17: bullets with law enforcement written all over it. Sorry that

1013
01:02:00,840 --> 01:02:03,640
Speaker 17: I have to write this poem to you, not here.

1014
01:02:04,280 --> 01:02:06,560
Speaker 17: I love you in ways I'm not sure I can understand.

1015
01:02:06,920 --> 01:02:09,360
Speaker 17: I'm sorry that before you were born, I saw your

1016
01:02:09,440 --> 01:02:12,360
Speaker 17: name written on graves. I'm sorry that I can't think

1017
01:02:12,400 --> 01:02:15,760
Speaker 17: of your future without wanting to cry. I fear getting

1018
01:02:15,800 --> 01:02:18,200
Speaker 17: a call that you're out doing something you had no

1019
01:02:18,440 --> 01:02:21,960
Speaker 17: business doing, like being happy you are a black boy.

1020
01:02:22,200 --> 01:02:25,400
Speaker 17: My black nephew. I cry in black tears because we

1021
01:02:25,520 --> 01:02:28,520
Speaker 17: know what happens to black boys. The liquid of their

1022
01:02:28,600 --> 01:02:33,840
Speaker 17: lives paint sidewalks a crimson, a crimson red. It's funny

1023
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:38,080
Speaker 17: how death brings color to the hood. I wrote that

1024
01:02:38,200 --> 01:02:39,960
Speaker 17: poem when I found out that I was going to

1025
01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:44,520
Speaker 17: become an aunt, and how oftentimes I think as people

1026
01:02:44,560 --> 01:02:47,280
Speaker 17: of color, it's hard for us to sit in joy

1027
01:02:47,360 --> 01:02:49,320
Speaker 17: when we find out another place is going to come

1028
01:02:49,320 --> 01:02:52,080
Speaker 17: into this world because we we live in La County,

1029
01:02:52,480 --> 01:02:55,760
Speaker 17: a car cart a Carsole City, we live in California

1030
01:02:55,800 --> 01:02:56,640
Speaker 17: at Carsole.

1031
01:02:56,360 --> 01:02:58,000
Speaker 3: State, and it's hard.

1032
01:02:59,560 --> 01:03:02,600
Speaker 17: Knowing that we're gonna that the future is coming after us,

1033
01:03:02,680 --> 01:03:05,840
Speaker 17: and that we still have these Carco systems. And so

1034
01:03:06,400 --> 01:03:08,960
Speaker 17: I wrote that poem because the person was political, and

1035
01:03:09,040 --> 01:03:11,440
Speaker 17: that is how it felt when I found out I

1036
01:03:11,600 --> 01:03:16,240
Speaker 17: was going to be an aunt. But I don't like

1037
01:03:16,320 --> 01:03:20,000
Speaker 17: to leave anything on a negative note or a somber note.

1038
01:03:20,520 --> 01:03:23,040
Speaker 17: So I'm going to close out with a much lighter poem,

1039
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:27,240
Speaker 17: a poem that I hope ignites fire in us and

1040
01:03:27,720 --> 01:03:31,360
Speaker 17: sustain and sustains us. We have a long fight ahead

1041
01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:33,400
Speaker 17: of us. Not only do we want to care for

1042
01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:36,960
Speaker 17: his budget, we also want more funding for youth development.

1043
01:03:37,320 --> 01:03:40,919
Speaker 17: We want all juvenile halls to close down. We want

1044
01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:45,240
Speaker 17: mensentral Jail to close by twenty twenty five, and so

1045
01:03:45,440 --> 01:03:50,120
Speaker 17: we need something that's going to sustain us. I want, folks,

1046
01:03:50,680 --> 01:03:52,480
Speaker 17: I want to get folks a second to stand next

1047
01:03:52,520 --> 01:03:54,720
Speaker 17: to someone that you might not know, or someone that

1048
01:03:54,760 --> 01:03:56,080
Speaker 17: you want to get to know a little bit more.

1049
01:03:56,880 --> 01:04:04,040
Speaker 3: I'll give you a second suffer around people. Okay, you

1050
01:04:04,040 --> 01:04:04,800
Speaker 3: al ready okay.

1051
01:04:07,120 --> 01:04:11,280
Speaker 17: This is a poem by UCLA Dream Resource Center and

1052
01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:16,240
Speaker 17: it's called We Matter. You have crossed seas, mountains and oceans.

1053
01:04:16,640 --> 01:04:19,040
Speaker 17: You came to a place you never imagine you would be.

1054
01:04:19,520 --> 01:04:22,160
Speaker 17: You brought with you the strength of a hurricane, and

1055
01:04:22,360 --> 01:04:24,120
Speaker 17: you carry with you the weight of the world on

1056
01:04:24,160 --> 01:04:28,160
Speaker 17: your shoulders. I see all of your hopes, dreams and struggles.

1057
01:04:28,640 --> 01:04:29,600
Speaker 3: I know that you feel.

1058
01:04:29,920 --> 01:04:31,959
Speaker 17: I know how you feel about being in a place

1059
01:04:32,080 --> 01:04:35,040
Speaker 17: so foreign, for I have felt this way before too.

1060
01:04:35,560 --> 01:04:38,680
Speaker 17: The feeling that we don't belong haunts us every now

1061
01:04:38,680 --> 01:04:42,480
Speaker 17: and then. That poem is so important because I want you,

1062
01:04:42,600 --> 01:04:45,000
Speaker 17: I want to always constantly remind us that we belong here.

1063
01:04:45,880 --> 01:04:50,040
Speaker 17: His this this rally might not going down in history,

1064
01:04:50,160 --> 01:04:52,360
Speaker 17: but everyone in this room is a part of making history.

1065
01:04:52,720 --> 01:04:54,480
Speaker 3: His history.

1066
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:56,920
Speaker 17: History is the little things that we do every day

1067
01:04:57,080 --> 01:04:59,960
Speaker 17: to move the needle forward. So if you coordinated rhyme,

1068
01:05:00,200 --> 01:05:02,800
Speaker 17: if you bought donuts, you've brought coffee, if you brought food,

1069
01:05:02,840 --> 01:05:05,160
Speaker 17: if you brought people, You're a part of making history.

1070
01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:07,920
Speaker 17: This is what history looks like. Thank you so much,

1071
01:05:13,480 --> 01:05:15,680
Speaker 17: thank you. We just want to say thank you all

1072
01:05:15,760 --> 01:05:18,360
Speaker 17: for coming out here, not tang.

1073
01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:25,160
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening into this inspiring episode. And you

1074
01:05:25,280 --> 01:05:30,160
Speaker 1: can learn more about reimagine LA's work at reimagine dot la.

1075
01:05:31,560 --> 01:05:33,680
Speaker 1: Please like and subscribe, and if you would like to

1076
01:05:33,720 --> 01:05:36,680
Speaker 1: share your story on weedian House, please reach out to

1077
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:41,280
Speaker 1: me at medianhouse dot com, median House on Instagram, or

1078
01:05:41,360 --> 01:05:45,480
Speaker 1: email me at Weedianhouse at gmail dot com. Thank you

1079
01:05:45,600 --> 01:05:48,600
Speaker 1: again for listening and maybe we again meet in the

1080
01:05:48,680 --> 01:05:54,640
Speaker 1: light of understanding. Weedian House is the production of iHeartRadio.

1081
01:05:55,320 --> 01:05:59,720
Speaker 1: It is written, hosted, and created by me Theo Henderson,

1082
01:06:00,480 --> 01:06:06,760
Speaker 1: our producers Jbie Loftus, Kaye Fager, Katie Ficial, and Lyra Smith.

1083
01:06:07,760 --> 01:06:10,960
Speaker 1: Our editor is Adam Wand and our local art is

1084
01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:12,360
Speaker 1: also by Katie Ficial.

1085
01:06:12,760 --> 01:06:13,520
Speaker 8: Thanks for listening.